Fritz bocks



(No Model.)

P. BOOKS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING BUTTONS.'

No. 380,980. Patented Apr. 10, 1888.

' NTTED STATES PATENT rrics..

FRITZ BUCKS, OF BARMEN, PRUSSIA, GERMANY.

MACHINE FOR MAKING BUTTONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,980, dated April 10, 1888.

Application mea may 20,1881. serial No. 238,823. (No model.)

' To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, FRITZBocKs, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Barmen, in the Kingdom of Prussia and Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful .Improvements in Machines for Manufacturing Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of my improved press for manufacturing covered buttons. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the lower portion of the press, showing the upper cap and the textile covering in position being formed. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the cap and covering in position for being secured to the body of the but-ton. Fig. 4. is a similar view showing the button being finished. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on line a: x, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a sectional view of theinner cap. Fig. 7 is a similar View of the lower portion of the body of the button. Fig. 8 is a view of the finished body of the but-ton. Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the upper cap, and Fig. 10 is a partly-sectional view of the tinished button.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to the manufacture of covered buttons; and it consists in the improved machine for manufacturing such buttons, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the manufacture of buttons covered with textile fabrics a core or body has heretofore been covered by a piece of textile fabric upon which a cap has been pressed upon the under side of the button, confining the edges of the covering; but with my machine new parts for the button are used and combined in a new manner. To this end the body of the button is first formed by forcing a piece of linen or canvas into the cap of the under side in such a manner that the stuff will project through the central aperture of the cap, whereupon a core of pasteboard or similar material is placed in the body and a metallic fianged cap forced over the top of the same, having'the edgestlanged over the edges of the lower cap.

The textile covering is thereupon placed, to

gether with an upper metallic cap, over the top of the body,with the edges of the covering bent between thefiange of the upper cap and the top ofthe body, the upper cap serving to secure the covering by its flange.

The machine consists of abcd-plate, A, having parallel uprights RR, which are united at their upper ends by a female screw-threaded box, C, in which the screw S of the upper interchangeable die, S', turns. The lower die consists of a tubular stud, B, having a slightlyconcaved upper end, g, and having a sleeve, P, sliding upon it, the said sleeve having the upper end of its bore slightly widened, as

shown at t, and bearing with its lower end against the middle of a flat upwardly-bulging spring, F, the notched or recessed ends of which tit upon the lower ends of the uprights and which serves to raise the sliding sleeve. Another sleeve, E, fits with either ofits rabl beted or stepped ends o upon the upper end of the sleeve, and a piston, K, having its faces concaved slides within this upper sleeve, having its periphery grooved and provided with split packing-rings r in the grooves.

When the button is to be formed, the lower cap, m, having the central aperture, o, has first the piecee of linen or canvas placed within it, the central portion of the said piece project` ing through the aperture, whereupon the core p, which is preferably of pasteboard, is placed within the cap, serving to fill the cavity. The cap d is thereupon placed over the top of the lower cap and its core, and the fiange of the cap is pressed around the edges of the lower cap, m, securing the top or cap on the body. A circular piece, l, of textile, forming the covering, is thereupon placed upon the flanged metallic cap c, and this cap and the covering are inverted'and placed in the upper concave face of the sliding piston, `as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the upper die being forced down, and thus pressing the textile covering with its edges around .the flange of the upper cap. The piston and the upper sleeve are now inverted, as shown in Fig. 3, and the body of the button is placed in the concave upper end of the tubular stud or support, and when the piston is forced down by the upper die within the upper sleeve, the said piston occupying the upper position in the inverted sleeve, with the covering and cap held in its present under side, the edge of the textile covering will strike ICO the widened portion 'i of the bore of the lower sleeve, which will further bend the edges un* der the flange of the cap, so that as the flat bulgingspring is compressed and the lower sleeve depressed the said edges will be doubled under the flange of the cap and between it and the top cap of the body of'the button, the concaved upper end of the support for the body serving to press the flange bf the upper cap inward and to cause it to bite against the inwardly-bent edge of the covering and against the top of the body of the button, the covering being thus secured.

By having the upper sleeve and its piston capable of being turned or reversed the covering and its cap may be formed in one end of the sleeve, while the covering and cap at the other end of the sleeve are pressed upon the body of the button, so that at each stroke of the upper die and at each inversion of the sleeve a button may be finished.

The body of the button may either be made by hand or a suitable press may be used for forcing the linen or canvas into the lower cap and for clamping the cap over t-he top of the body after the linen or canvas and the core have been placed in the cap, and various machines 'maybe used in preparing the various parts of the button.

The machine itself is simple and not liable to break or to get out of order, and the process of making the buttons is sufficiently simple to admit of unskilled and weak operators being employed in the manufacture.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United vStates-- l. In a machine for manufacturing covered buttons, the combination of a lower support for the body of the button, a spring-actuated sleeve sliding upon the support and having the upper end of its bore slightly beveled or widened, a reversible sleeve, each end of which is provided with a rabbet and adapted to fit upon the upper end of the lower sleeve, an upper interchangeable die, and a piston for operating the same, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

2. In a machine for manufacturing covered buttons, the combination of a lower support for the body of the button having a concaved upper end, a spring-actuated sleeve sliding upon the support, a reversible sleeve fitting with its rabbeted or stepped ends upon the upper end of the lower sleeve, a piston sliding within the upper sleeve and having concave faces and split packing-springs in circumferential grooves in its sides, a female screwthreaded box supported upon upright-s above the sleeves, a screw turning in the box and having means for revolving it, and an interchangeable die secured in the lower end of the screw, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

3. In a machine for manufacturing buttons with textile covering, the combination of a bodysupport, a sleeve sliding upon the support, a flat upwardly-bulging spring having its central apertured portion bearing against the lower end of the sleeve and having its notched ends fitting upon the uprights of the press, an upper sleeve fitting upon the upper end of the lower sleeve, a piston sliding in the sleeve and having a concave face, and an up per die having means for forcing it down, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRITZ ROCKS.

Witnesses FRITZ BRUNE, ALBERT PRNTZ. 

